Banbury school children team up with Orbit Homes to become ‘Eco Buddies’

Pupils at Hill View Primary School in Banbury recently put their biodiversity knowledge to the test after participating in ‘Eco Buddies’, a new, free educational programme by affordable housebuilder, Orbit Homes.

During the session, which aims to support pupils with their understanding of nature and what they can do to promote greater biodiversity, Orbit Homes colleagues helped pupils to build and decorate their own bird boxes and learn about the important role that plants and animals play in keeping our planet healthy.

Pupils also learned how Orbit Homes works to develop sustainably by integrating eco-friendly features into its homes and developments, such as bug hotels and hedgehog highways.

Brian Nearney, Regional Managing Director at Orbit Homes, commented: “We were delighted to join pupils at Hill View Primary School for an exciting Eco Buddies session. It was a great opportunity to help the children learn more about biodiversity and how they can make their own positive impact on the environment, both at home and at school.

“All the pupils were amazing at building and decorating the bird boxes and we’d like to thank Hill View Primary for having us.”

Emma Jeavons, Assistant Headteacher at Hill View Primary School, added: “Our pupils are very curious about the environment and love to explore outdoors so this was a fantastic chance for the children to learn more about biodiversity. The bird box activity was a fun and creative way to get the pupils really involved with the idea of protecting the wildlife around us and we’d like to say thank you to Orbit Homes for inspiring our very own ‘Eco Buddies’.”

Eco Buddies is designed to support students in understanding the importance of nature and how all living things are connected. Free classroom resources are available for schools to download at orbithomes.org.uk/eco-buddies.

To book a visit and for more information, schools can contact eco.buddies@orbit.org.uk

Eco Buddies joins Building Buddies, another educational programme from Orbit Homes that allows primary school children to experience hands-on visits to construction sites.

Pupils can learn about all the different processes involved in building a brand-new home and how the skills they learn in Maths and English are used daily in a variety of jobs. Find out more about ‘Building Buddies’ here.

Hill View Primary School is close to Orbit Homes’ Calthorpe Gardens development in Banbury, where a new range of high-quality two and three-bedroom homes were recently released for purchase through Shared Ownership. For more information about Calthorpe Gardens, visit: www.orbithomes.org.uk/calthorpe-gardens.

Picture caption: Hill View Primary School pupils built and decorated bird boxes alongside Orbit Homes colleagues as part of the affordable housebuilder’s free ‘Eco Buddies’ educational programme

Picture caption:Hill View Primary School pupils with the bird boxes they built and decorated alongside Orbit Homes colleagues as part of the affordable housebuilder's free 'Eco Buddies' educational programme.